Sangamon County Rifle Association
Right Reason on Second Amendment Rights
Springfield, Illinois


Jim Butler





Illinois Right-to-Carry Now!


Jim Butler, President, SCRA
May 2011 GunNews






For far too long the citizens of Illinois have been denied the most basic of human rights - the right of self-defense.  This has been done mostly by the Chicago anti-self-defense movement through the use of illegal infringement laws such as the recently overturned decades-old Chicago gun ban.  If utopian ideas like this had really worked, Chicago, Washington, DC, and other cities like them would be among the safest places in America instead of the violence-plagued, crime-ridden cities they really are.

Those who would deny us the right to self-defense with right-to-carry have repeatedly warned that the streets were going to run with blood and every little altercation would result in deadly shootouts.  Time and time again, their Chicken Little predictions have failed to materialize after the measures have passed into law.

Supporters of a carry bill maintain that crime will actually drop because evildoers and the intemperate wouldn't know who might be carrying.

As Cesare Beccaria in his book, On Crimes and Punishments (1764) said, "Such laws [laws that disarm the law-abiding] make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

This was as true in 1764 as it is today!

Some police organizations have traditionally been opponents of carry laws, but two years ago the Illinois Sheriffs' Association announced its support for the idea and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police recently endorsed right-to-carry after some concerns had been addressed.  The Illinois State Police, much to the chagrin of gun haters, have remained neutral this year.

Another favorite mantra of gun haters is that right-to-carry would create a Wild West atmosphere. We should be so lucky.

A law-abiding citizen in Dodge City was over 10 times less likely to be murdered than he would be in our strictest modern gun control jurisdictions.  While Wild West authorities were as unable as modern authorities to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys, they didn't try to keep them out of the hands of good guys.  Law enforcement didn't waste time going after good guys who made errors in registrations forms.  Instead, they went after the violent bad guys (who often later met a rope).   The so-called Wild West was only wild in Hollywood Westerns, not in reality.

No victim of crime should be required by government to surrender his or her life, health, safety, personal dignity or give up property to a criminal nor should a victim be required to retreat in the face of attack.  Citizens also have a right to sanctuary within their own homes or vehicles and to defend themselves against attacks in public.

As one of the last holdouts to carry in the nation, it is time for Illinois to enter the 21st century and pass a shall-issue carry law that allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families.


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